I'm a bit worried about "the Beams trade". OK he's a good player, but don't we have a lot of good and developing mids. Yes he could potentially add a bit but if 3R's, Aish, Hanley, Zorks, Lewy, Mayes, Dawson etc don't make a decent midfield, what ever will.
Second are we convinced about him. OK I understand his dad's got cancer and I am very sorry about that. But how much if any of this is tied up in (a) a desire to get out of Collingwood, (b) a play for more money.
Thirdly for such a high profile player does he display the type of leadership and character you would expect. Is he part of Collingwood's leadership group. They say he doesn't like Leading Teams - fair enough but in any job you've got to cop some (hopefully constructive) feedback from colleagues and bosses. What about the rape allegations - what as that about. Collingwood supporters seem to think he should be grateful because the club "got him off". Does it matter that he didn't tuen up at their B&F.
TBH if he is that keen to come and the deal falls through we will have another shot and his value to Collingwood will reduce if they don't have a 100% effective player for 2015 then someone who is out of contract.
Bottom line - I am a bit sceptical. We miss Pick 5, we potentially miss a 200+ game Key Pos player - Wright, Durden etc. The word is this is the draft for talls - next year is all about mids. Plus of we go all out for the trade we either throw in an up and coming player, or Pick 25 - and look what picks in the 20'a got us last year with smart recruiting.
Just my thoughts. What I would be doing is is offering Pick 5 ONLY. I would also be stating that publically. At 5 pm Friday, deal would be off and he would be Collingwood's problem.